Does it get any better than this?

Hello,

Well, I don't even know how to describe the last week. Amazing, Revolutionary, Exciting, Humbling, Exhilarating… I could go on and on! This past week we have been working with the greatest group of pastors I have ever had the privilege of working with (and that is saying a lot!). They were all chosen by us as and the director of a local organization here as the best & brightest pastors in the area. Many have been to a few years of Bible School and they were all hungry to pass along these methods to other pastors and leaders, especially taking it to the rural areas.

You can click on the following link to see the pictures and even a video I posted on my website as well as an audio update from one of my teammates, Sarah. www.ToMakeHimKnown.com/training.html

I don't even know where to start. From the first day, they all showed up excited and eager to study. There were just 10 that were chosen and the all showed up on time ready to go. We started off going through the book of Jonah with them and then we went on to the book of Ephesians. After that we had a day of them teaching each other and us the methods we had been teaching them. I can't count the number of times I had to put my head down to wipe tears of joy away as I considered the gravity of what the Lord was allowing us to witness and be a part of. I have never been part of a seminar where it seemed that despite our own lack of understanding really where we were wanting to go and do, because it is the first time Titus Project has ever done this kind of a training, every moment was perfectly planned. I would go so far as to say divinely planned. It really was that smooth. We didn't always feel that way ahead of time, but God moved so powerfully. So many times I had no idea what I was supposed to do, even walking up to speak not having any idea of what to say. One time as I walked forward, panicking, praying that God would show me what to do, I grabbed one set of notes, then set them down, then grabbed another set, then set them down, then started quickly flipping through the Bible trying to find something to say, then I started asking them if they had any questions and after a few minutes of silence, I just opened my mouth and the message God gave was the perfect message for that time and the next hour was just anointed as we looked deep into the scriptures & allowed the Word to penetrate our lives. I just don't know how to explain it other than a perfect week.
I could go on for a hundred pages speaking of what happened, but here are a couple highlights:
- I think the biggest highlight for me was on the third day, one of the most senior pastors came up to me and asked to speak to me in private. He started telling me that he had been to 5 years of Bible college and been a pastor for many years and studying the Bible for more than that and then he said, "but I have never experienced anything as powerful as this training." He went on to say, "James, I need more of this! I must get more of this training, where can I go, what can I do, tell me!" Well, when I told him about the School of Biblical Studies in Capetown, he said, "Alright, I'm going to go there, when do they start?" I couldn't believe it! He is one of the more influential pastors in the area and is now planning on setting aside his very large church, leave his wife and kids behind, and go get trained for 9 months because he is so desperate for what God has been teaching him! Talk about hunger!

- I have never been in a seminar where almost every passage we looked at , the pastors took it to real, practical application & truly took it to heart to transform their own lives and their churches. Every major point we hit, they would get excited about and discuss with the other pastors how they weren't doing this or how they needed to do that. Especially as we went through the letter of Ephesians, they were seeing on their own, how the theologies and doctrines they had gained from Bible Schools had shaped their world views and that they needed to get their understanding of God from the Bible, not from a text book. They had revelation after revelation and would get excited and blurt out whatever new revelation God was giving them with a great big smile on their faces.
- During the Teachback time when they were teaching each other doing a "mock-seminar" I often was emotional as these guys did and amazing job. One of the guys, Collins, actually went home & in just one night came up with about 7 or 8 of his own unique illustrations that had never been done before to help explain how to study the Bible. One of the illustrations to show the need to study inductively and listen to what God has to tell us was He had a cassette player and he put a tape in to show that "people are always telling the Bible what they want to hear, but what we need to do is stop playing the tape and turn on the radio to see what God is trying to tell us, and listen to him instead." He also numerous other great ideas that left me in tears. Every pastor added their own twist to the method and made it their own, it was so exciting to watch them and see this ministry being multiplied before our eyes!

This evening the rest of our tam comes up from down South and together we will be traveling to the Western side of Zambia for two more seminars there before finishing up with a final week of training in Livingstone in the South. I can't believe we only have a month left! Wow this has gone by fast.

Thank you so much for your prayers this past week, God moved so much!
- Please continue to pray for the anointing of the Lord on our team and in the lives of the students
- Pray for those who were just trained, that they would get out and use what they have learned and train others. Also, please pray that the Lord would allow us to come back and do a follow-up training with them next year to build on the foundation that has been laid. They are all eager to do so and so are we.
- Please pray for our health and safety as we travel to the other side of country and train there.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers!

Sincerely,

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com

Training Trainers

Hello,

Well, I don’t even know how to describe the last week. Amazing, Revolutionary, Exciting, Humbling, Exhilarating… I could go on and on! This past week we have been working with the greatest group of pastors I have ever had the privilege of working with (and that is saying a lot!). They were all chosen by us as and the director of a local organization here as the best & brightest pastors in the area. Many have been to a few years of Bible School and they were all hungry to pass along these methods to other pastors and leaders, especially taking it to the rural areas.

You can click on the following link to see the pictures and even a video I posted on my website as well as an audio update from one of my teammate, Sarah. www.ToMakeHimKnown.com/training.html

I don’t even know where to start. From the first day, they all showed up excited and eager to study. There were just 10 that were chosen and the all showed up on time ready to go. We started off going through the book of Jonah with them and then we went on to the book of Ephesians. After that we had a day of them teaching each other and us the methods we had been teaching them. I can’t count the number of times I had to put my head down to wipe tears of joy away as I considered the gravity of what the Lord was allowing us to witness and be a part of. I have never been part of a seminar where it seemed that despite our own lack of understanding really where we were wanting to go and do, because it is the first time Titus Project has ever done this kind of a training, every moment was perfectly planned. I would go so far as to say divinely planned. It really was that smooth. We didn’t always feel that way ahead of time, but God moved so powerfully. So many times I had no idea what I was supposed to do, even walking up to speak not having any idea of what to say. One time as I walked forward, panicking, praying that God would show me what to do, I grabbed one set of notes, then set them down, then grabbed another set, then set them down, then started quickly flipping through the Bible trying to find something to say, then I started asking them if they had any questions and after a few minutes of silence, I just opened my mouth and the message God gave was the perfect message for that time and the next hour was just anointed as we looked deep into the scriptures & allowed the Word to penetrate our lives. I just don’t know how to explain it other than a perfect week.
I could go on for a hundred pages speaking of what happened, but here are a couple highlights:
- I think the biggest highlight for me was on the third day, one of the most senior pastors came up to me and asked to speak to me in private. He started telling me that he had been to 5 years of Bible college and been a pastor for many years and studying the Bible for more than that and then he said, “but I have never experienced anything as powerful as this training.” He went on to say, “James, I need more of this! I must get more of this training, where can I go, what can I do, tell me!” Well, when I told him about the School of Biblical Studies in Capetown, he said, “Alright, I’m going to go there, when do they start?” I couldn’t believe it! He is one of the more influential pastors in the area and is now planning on setting aside his very large church, leave his wife and kids behind, and go get trained for 9 months because he is so desperate for what God has been teaching him! Talk about hunger!

- I have never been in a seminar where almost every passage we looked at , the pastors took it to real, practical application & truly took it to heart to transform their own lives and their churches. Every major point we hit, they would get excited about and discuss with the other pastors how they weren’t doing this or how they needed to do that. Especially as we went through the letter of Ephesians, they were seeing on their own, how the theologies and doctrines they had gained from Bible Schools had shaped their world views and that they needed to get their understanding of God from the Bible, not from a text book. They had revelation after revelation and would get excited and blurt out whatever new revelation God was giving them with a great big smile on their faces.
- During the Teachback time when they were teaching each other doing a “mock-seminar” I often was emotional as these guys did and amazing job. One of the guys, Collins, actually went home & in just one night came up with about 7 or 8 of his own unique illustrations that had never been done before to help explain how to study the Bible. One of the illustrations to show the need to study inductively and listen to what God has to tell us was He had a cassette player and he put a tape in to show that “people are always telling the Bible what they want to hear, but what we need to do is stop playing the tape and turn on the radio to see what God is trying to tell us, and listen to him instead.” He also numerous other great ideas that left me in tears. Every pastor added their own twist to the method and made it their own, it was so exciting to watch them and see this ministry being multiplied before our eyes!

This evening the rest of our tam comes up from down South and together we will be travelling to the Western side of Zambia for two more seminars there before finishing up with a final week of training in Livingstone in the South. I can’t believe we only have a month left! Wow this has gone by fast.

Thank you so much for your prayers this past week, God moved so much!
- Please continue to pray for the anointing of the Lord on our team and in the lives of the students
- Pray for those who were just trained, that they would get out and use what they have learned and train others. Also, please pray that the Lord would allow us to come back and do a follow-up training with them next year to build on the foundation that has been laid. They are all eager to do so and so are we.
- Please pray for our health and safety as we travel to the other side of country and train there.
Thank you so much for all your support and prayers!

Sincerely,

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com